Malavika PC’s ink on paper drawings talk of an artist who has arrived indeed.
There’s no hint of a new kid on the block in Malavika PC’s works. Every one of her 22 ink on paper drawings on display at No.1 Shanthi Road smacks of an artist who found her voice a while ago, and has honed it well. The lines are bold, dots confident, details stunning, and strange creepy crawly creatures come alive under her pen.
Why is the exhibition titled Creature Comfort? “Well, I have always had an affinity towards creepy, crawly creatures — amphibians in particular. I could watch squids or praying mantis for hours together. I find their bodies and the designs on them fascinating,” Malavika says. Malavika has been studying various sea and land creatures for seven years and drew several sketches of them. Five months ago, she began this project. She dreamt up a whole new creature, where features of various real beings morph.
“I found it exciting to morph these creatures together. For instance bits of octopus, turtle, sea anemone or squid come together to create another creature. It’s been much like a game for me,” she says. Her own story is interesting as well.
A mixed-breed Tamilian with a Baghdadi great grandmother and a grandfather who was a Sanskrit scholar, Malavika has always wanted to be an artist.
Her mother is into political theatre, and father runs a film school in Hyderabad. “My childhood was spent soaking in all kinds of arts, theatre and cinema. I was exposed to a wide range of contemporary arts as my parents circle was entirely made up of artists. Initially, I wasn’t sure of my medium though,” she recalls.
She enrolled at the College of Fine Arts in Chennai, and wanted study print making and illustration. The college authorities after the foundation course found her strong in ceramics, and urged her to specialise in that. And she did, but by her fourth year of lessons, she realised that industrial ceramics didn’t interest her much.
According to her, “the call that came from reams of paper and litres of ink and the lines born of a nib was stronger.”
In 2004, she landed a job as an illustrator and graphic designer with a company, working primarily for children’s books.
“This was commercial art, and it helped me hone my hand at illustrating,” she says.
Malavika has been freelancing for the last four years, and is also a theatre actor.
She moved to Pondicherry to work on her Creature Comfort series. When asked about the hours she put into each of her drawings, she shrugs and says rather nonchalantly: “I usually work at a stretch from six in the evening to eight next morning. Each of these drawings at least took 13-14 hours of work daily, for about five days.”
That hard work definitely shows in her body of work.
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